Teen Gives Birth to 27-29 Week Baby, Tries to Flush Body Down Toilet

On Tuesday night, a central Pennsylvania teenager gave birth in her high school bathroom to a baby who was approximately 27-29 weeks old. She initially tried to flush the baby’s body down the toilet and, when that didn’t work, she placed the baby in the trash can and left.

Police say Cherlie LaFleur, a 19-year-old McCaskey East High School student, is responsible. She has been charged with concealing the death of a child.

From a local news report on what happened:

Officer David Shell after they reviewed school surveillance footage and conducted extensive interviews at the school where the male infant was apparently born prematurely Tuesday night, according to a Lancaster city police press release.

After giving birth in the bathroom, LaFleur allegedly tried to flush the infant down a toilet and, when that failed, she put it in a trash can, police said.

A school custodian found the infant’s body Tuesday night and called police, who were assisted at the scene by school district officials and the Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office, the release states.

While an initial autopsy of the infant by the county coroner’s office concluded that the infant was likely 27 to 29 weeks — about seven months — into gestation, city police have not yet released whether the infant was alive when LaFleur attempted to conceal it.

The charge of concealing the death of a child can be made even if the child is born dead, the release states. A final autopsy by the coroner’s office is pending.

LaFleur was unable to post a $1 million bail and has been taken to the Lancaster County Prison while she awaits trial.

Ironically, this situation follows on the heels of a new undercover video showing a staffer at an abortion clinic in Bronx, New York is shown on film telling a customer to flush the body of a baby born alive following a failed abortion down the toilet. Had LaFleur had an abortion and the baby been born alive after a failed abortion, the abortion clinic had a similar recommendation to what she did with her baby’s body.